Advertising display device



1y 5, 1932. ',R. D. FRENCH 1,885,848 ADVERTISING DISPLAY DEVICE Filed June 30, 1930 4 Sheetsheet 1 s i a s i i July 5, 1932. R. D. FRENCH ADVERTISING DISPLAY DEVICE Filed June 50. 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 5, 1932. R. D. FRENCH ADVERTISING DISPLAY DEVICE Filed June 30, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 July 5, 193.2. R. D. FRENCH ADVERTISING DISLAY DEVICE Filed June 30. 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 )&\\\\\\\\\ Patented July 5, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i REGINALD D.' FRENCH, OF GLEN ELLYN, ILLINOIS, AFSSIGNOR TO GENERAL OUTDOOR ADVERTISING CO., INC., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY .ADVERTreineV DISPLAY nEvIE This invention relates to a novel and improved advertising display device and consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Y

The invention relates to an advertising display Vdevice more especially intended for outdoor advertising to be used along highways, vacant lots `and the like. The object of the invention is to produce. a device of the kind for use in advertising a business, which includes a number of different grades of the same article or of different' kinds of the same general merchandise. As shown herein, it is l5 appliedto the display of automobiles and is intended to bring successively into view different types of cars put out by the same manufacturer so that each may be individually and critically 'examined by the observer.

99 The many advantages ofthe invention and its obvious appeal to the public will more clearly appear as I proceedwith my specification. l 1

In the drawings z- Figure 1 is a `view representing a sign board of familiar type adapted for outdoor use, in which is embodied my improved advertising display device.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of one of the cars included in the number of cars to be exhibited.

FigureV 3 is aV front elevation of the sign board with the front-plate entirely removed.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the car sup- "5 porting mechanism and of the gearing for operating the same.

Figure 5 is a more detailed top plan view of thermotor shafts and gearing on an enlarged scale, the same appearing on a smaller 'scale in the left upper corner of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a view representing a section through Figure 5 in a plane indicated by the line 6 6 of Figure 5. y Y

Figure 7 is a horizontal sectional view of a re verse gearing included in the mechanism.

Figure 8 is a sectional viewof a double solenoid included in the gearing.A

Figure 9 isa front elevation of a switch or contact plate more particularly to be referred to later. V

Referring now to that embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings 10 indicates a sign board of familiar construction, comprising an elongated rectangular frame `11 supported by a base 12 and a face plate 13 of the manufacturer or merchant whose goods are to be advertised. The balance of said face plate is provided with suitable decorationor design to accord with the nature of the goods handled. This design may be carried over, asshown `in Figure 1, by suitably cutting out of the opening 14 to indicate the character of the scenery whichvthe display space back of the opening, 14 is to picture. Y

'y At the rear of the frame is mounted an elongated boX 17 comprising a topvwall 18, the floor 19, the rear wall 20 and end walls 21, 22. The face plate 16 itself may, andas shown does, constitute the front wall of said box.. (See Figs. 3 and 4.) y

. In the floor 19 are provided a plurality of longitudinally extending parallel grooves 23 which provide trackways for the several cars to be exhibited. These cars are made from a sheet of wood or metal suitably lcut and painted to present a silhouette of the car 15 with rotative circular parts 24 painted to represent pictures of the wheels and rotatively mounted against thecboard or sheet constituting the main body of the car. The wheels of each car engage in one of the grooves V28.

The top ofthe car sheets are each provided with one or more hangers (as shown 2 in number) 25, 25,I which depend from Vlongitudinally parallel rails 26.1ocated vertically above and in the same plane with the grooves 23. With each car is associated'an endless chain Vor belt 27, the several chains being mounted on sprockets or pulleys 28, 29 supported on transverse shafts 30, 31 in a manner presently to be described. The shafts 30 and 31 are non-rotatable andare supported from the top wall 18 of the boX in any convenient manner. Stops or lugs 25a on a chain 27 at each side of a hanger 25 operatively connect the car to the chain so that movement 0f the chain in one direction will move a car from the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, to the position shown in full lines in said figure, which last position corresponds to the display position of the car, as shown in Figure 1, where it is presented through the opening 14 in the face plate of the sign to the observer. A reverse movement of the chain returns the car to its initial position.

The several sprockets 28 for the several cars 15 are each fixed on a short sleeve 32 rotative on the non-rotative shaft 28, as clearly shown in Figures 5 and 7. Said sleeve has bearing` in aforked bracket 33 mounted on a transverse base board 34 located near the upper left corner of theboX 17 (as it appears in Figure 3) and forming the part of a housing for the gearing and the mot-or, which operates it. The times 33a of the forked bracket 33'form the bearing openings for the sleeve 32 and engage each side of the sprocket wheel 3() and thus hold the sprocket and with it the sleeve 32 against e-ndwise movement on the shaft 28, 35, 35 indicate opposed, spaced, bevelled, gears feathered to the sleeve 32 and constituting with an intermediate bevelled pinion 36, a familiar form of reverse gearing which operates to rotate the sleeve 32 in one or the other direction by bringing one or thel other of the gears 35 into engagement with the pinion-36 by shifting said gears on the sleeve 32. The pinion 36 is the drivingr member and is formed, as shown, rigid with a sleeve' 37, to which is fixed a worm gear 38 and which itselfis mounted on a vertical stud39 depending from and suitably supported by a bracket 40 attached to the top wall 18 of the box 17 It will be understood that anv assembly of the kind just described is associated wit and is located in the plane of each of the paths of travel of the several cars.

The several worm gears 38 are engaged by Worms 41 (see Figure 4) on a transverse shaft 42 located at one side'and above the 'shaft 28 and mounted by ymeans of suitable hangers depending from the top wall 18 of the boX. An electric motor 43 is mounted on the base wall 24 and pulleys 44 and 45, respectively, on the motor shaft and on the shaft 42 are connected 'by the belt 46, the diameters of said pulleys being such as to provide suitable reduction between the motor shaft and the shaft v42 so that the total reduction from the motor shaft through the belt 46, pulley 45, the worm 41, worm gear 38 and gears 35, 35`will produce the desired rapidity of'inovement of the car body from the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, to the position shown in full lines therein. 'Anyorder of presentationof the cars desired may be followed. As shown and as designed herein, they are operated so as to be presented in succession, namely, the one nearest the display opening first, then the next one second, and so on in the order of their distance back of said opening. To provide for this successive appearance of the several cars or other articles on display, I provide the following mechanism. There is associated with the reverse gearing for each car a duplex solenoid 47 and a bracket 48 which has apertured arms 49, 49 which engage loosely the hubs 35a, 35 of the gears 35 and bear against the outer faces of said gears. Obviously movement of the bracket 48 will shift the gears 35 to bring one or the other thereof in selective engagement with the pinion 36. The doublesolenoid 47 comprises the two parts 47a, 47a, and a rod or plunger 50 common to and endwise movable with respect to both. The bracket 48 has a lug 48a fixed on the rod 50 midway between the two solenoid parts 47a, and is held in said intermediate'.position by meansv of coiled springs 51, as clearly shown in Figure 8; Ob-v viouslythe energizing of one solenoid will move the bracket 48 towards that solenoid to bring one bevelled gear 35 into engagement with the pinion 36 andthe energizing of the other will act to reverse said movement and bring about a reversal of the gearing. The

springs will restore the bracket 48 to neutral position upon deenergizing of either solenoid part. v l

Associated with the solenoids is= a contact disk 52 (seeF-igures 5 and 9). This disk, the body of which is made of insulation materal, is provided with a plurality of spaced Contact plates 53, 54 disposed in a circle thereon. Said contact plates are arranged in pairs of plates spaced at a short distance, as indicated at 55, with` a longer distance, as indicated at56, separating the several pairs. Each closely spaced pair of contacts is associated with one of the pairs of solenoids adapted for operating one of the cars. One contact 53 is connected by a wire 57 to one solenoid part 47a and by a wire 58 with the other solenoid part, the other sides of said solenoid being grounded.

Opposed to the contact disk 52 is a brush carrying wheel 59 (see Figure 5). This brush carryingwheel is mounted on a stud shaft 60 extending at right angles to and connected by suitable reduction gearing in a housing indicated'at 61 to the motor shaft 62. 63 indicates .the brush on said rotary brush carrier 59,` said brush being connected through the carrier toan annular contact plate 64 on its opposite face. A brush 65 engaging with said contact plate is connected to a binding post 66 to which is led a source of electric current.

The operation of the brush carrier and contact platejis as follows The brush carrier 59 rotates slowly, contacting successively with the plates 54, 53 `by a movement inthe direction ofthe arrow shown in Figure 9. Suppose that it is in contact with the right hand end of the contact plate'indicated by the Roman numeral I in Figure 9, when the current is turned on.-

The tnrningon of the current starts the motor into operation so that the worm shaft 45 is continuously driven with the result that all of the pinions 36 are in operation. Since the brush 63 is in contact with the Contact plate 53, one of the solenoids associated with the first car will be energized and the-bracket 48 will be shifted in the direction of that solenoid which will bring one of the bevelled gears 35 into engagement with the rotating pinion 36. This operates to rotate the associated sprocket wheel 30 which produces a travelling movement of the chain 27 acting to pull the first car from the position shown in Figure 3 in dotted lines to thedisplay position shown in full lines. The movement of the brush plate 59 is so designed that the brush will continue in contact with the plate indicated byI until the car hasbeen moved to the display position, after which it will leave said contact thus deenergizing the solenoid whereupon the associated bracket 48 will be shifted to neutral position. The brush holder will continue to move until it comes into Contact with the contact plate indicated at Ia, the car remaining in its position during the movementv of the brush from the one contact plate to the other. As soon as the brush comes in contact with the second contact plate the opposed solenoid part will be energized with the result of a shift of the bracket plate 48 in the opposite direction to produce a reverse movement of the sprocket chain 27. This Will-act to withdraw car number one from the displayl position and shift it back to the position shown in dotted lines. When the brush leaves the contact plate Ia, the bracket plate will be restored to the neutral position and when` the brush comes in contact with the next `Contact plate II, one of the parts of the next solenoid associated with car number two will beactuated to shift the bracket 48 associated with that car whereupon the same operation will occur as in the first named car and this will continue until all the carshave been displayed, after which the whole display in the order named will begin again and continue as before. y

In order to prevent jar to the parts of whichthe cars are made and to the restof the machinery,it ispreferred'to arrangethe contact plates and the brush in such manner that the bracket will be shifted toneutral position before the car reaches the limit of its movement, at either end of its path of travel, the car moving this last short distance by such momentum as it may have ac'- quired. To arrest easily the movement of each car at theY end of. its path of travel, forked blocks 67, 68 (see Figures 3 and 4) are arranged in position-to have the hangers of said car gradually wedged therein, thus slowly bringing them to a stop without a ar. J In order to further intrigue the interest of the observer, I provide a device for bringing Athe name of the particular specimen Vor type of advertised it has stopped inthatposition. That is to say, the name will not appear while the car is either moving towards position or retreate ing from that position. One means for bringing this about is illustrated in Figure 2. s

A name plate 69 is hinged below the running board 70 ofl the car in such manner that it may be folded upback'of the car, as shown in full lines, or dropped to a position below the running the. latter position being the one in which it will be exposed to view. Said name plate is fixed to a hinge .rod 7l to which is fixed a crank 72. A horizontal crank shaft 73 is mounted on thecar body above the name plate r" and has one crank arm 74 connected by a link 75 to the crank arm 72'of the name plate. A coiled spring 76 normally holds the link 75 in its upper position so as to retain the nameplate folded back out of view. The

other crank arm 77 of the crankv shaft 73 is connected to a vertically movable rod 78 mounted to slide on thefrear face of the car body and carrying at its upper end a trolley wheel 79. A cam plate 80v is supported from the top ofthe box 17 in any convenient manner inthe path of the trolley wheel 79 and is so arranged that just as the car body is reaching the Vdisplay position, the trolley wheel 7 9 will strike the cam with the result f that the Vsign plate is swung into view below the running board of the car. On a reverse movement of the car the trolley wheel slips off the cam plate and' the sign plate is restored to its original position, folded back ,against the car body by means of the spring lVhilein describing the invention I have referred to many details of construction and arrangement, it is to be understood that the invention is in no way limited thereto except asmay be pointed out in the appended claims.

I'claim as my invention 1. An advertising display device compris` ing'a4 sign board Vprovided with a display opening at oneside thereof, a plurality of tracks locatedback lof and parallel to said sign board, a plurality of display products lsupported on said tracks and adapted for movement thereon to and from a position back of said display opening 'in said sign board, a plurality of endless travellingbelts, one' for each display product, operatively connected thereto, a plurality of driving members, one foreach of said endless belts,

goods to displayV position after f board, as shownin dotted lines,

solo

and means for operating said driving members in predetermined order to present said display products successively in display position back of said opening.

2. An advertising display device comprising a sign board provided with a display opening at one side thereof, a plurality of laterally spaced tracks located back of and parallel to said sign board, a plurality of display products supported on said tracks and adaptedlfor movement thereon to and from a position back of said display opening in said sign board, a plurality of endless travelling belts, one for each display product, operatively connected thereto, a plurality of driving members, one for each of said endless belts, means for operating said driving members in predetermined order to present said display products successively in display position back of said opening, and means associated With the display products for distinctly characterizing each of them adapted to be presented to view when the display product is in display position.

3. An advertising display device comprising a sign board provided with a display opening at oneside thereof, a plurality of laterally spacedl tracks located back of and extending parallel to said sign board, a plurality of display products, a plurality of hangers supporting said several display products from said tracks, a plurality of endless belts each operativelyv connected to one of said display products, rotative members on said display products, supports with Which said rotative members are engaged, a plurality of driving members, one for each of said endless belts, and means `for operating said driving members in predetermined order to present and Withdraw said display products successively in display position back of said opening.

4, An advertising display device comprising a sign board provided withV a display opening at one side thereof, a plurality of laterally spaced tracks located back of and extending parallel to said sign board, a plurality of display products, a plurality of hangers supporting said several display products from said tracks, a plurality of endless belts each operatively connected to one of said display products, rotative members on said display products, supports with which saidv rotative members are engaged, a plurality of driving members, one for each of said endless belts, means for operating said driving members in predetermined order to present and Withdraw said display products successively in display position back of said opening, and means associated With the display products for distinctly characterizing each of them adapted to be presented to view when the display. product is in display position.

5. An advertising display device comprising a sign board provided With a display opening at one side thereof, a plurality of laterally spaced tracks located back of and parallel to said sign board, a plurality of display products supported on said tracks and adapted for movement thereon to and from a position back of said display opening in said sign board, a plurality of endless travelling belts severally associated with said display products, an operating shaft connected to said endless belts, a plurality of sets of reverse gearing on said shaft severally associated With said endless belts, a motor for driving said shaft, a plurality of sets of solenoids associated With said sets of reverse gearing, and a switch mechanism associated with said several sets ofsolenoids and adapted for operating the same in predetermined order at successive time intervals.

6. An advertising display device, comprising a sign board provided with a display opening at one side thereof, a plurality of laterally spaced tracks located back of and parallel to said sign board, a plurality of display products supported on said tracks and adapted for movement thereon to and from a position back of said display opening in said sign board, means for moving said display products in predetermined order to present them successively in display position back of said opening, and shock devices at the ends of the paths of movement of said several display products to arrest the movement thereof.

7. An advertising display device, comprising a sign board provided with a display opening at one side thereof, a plurality of laterally spaced tracks located back of and parallel to said sign board, a. plurality of display products supported on said tracks and adapted for movement thereon to and from a position back of said display opening in said sign board, means for moving said display products in predetermined order to present them successively in display position back of said opening. shock devices at the ends of the paths of movement of said several display products to arrest the movement thereof, placards severally associated with said display products movable thereon from a normally concealed vposition to a display position, and means for moving said placards to display position when said products are opposite said display opening.

8. An advertising display device comprising a sign board provided With a display opening at one side thereof, a plurality of relatively spaced supporting members located back of and arranged in parallelism With said sign board, a plurality of display products carried by said supporting members and adapted for movement to and from a position back of said display opening in said sign board, a plurality of driving members one for each of said display products, and means for operating said driving members in predetermined order to present said display products successively in display position back of said opening.

In testimony whereof I claim the foregoing as my invention, I affix my signature this 16th day of June, 1930.

REGINALD D. FRENCH. 

